Elon Musk And Vivek Ramaswamytwo billionaires appointed by the president-elect Donald Trump to supervise what we call Department of Government Effectiveness (DOGE), say they will rely on recent Supreme Court decisions to justify unilaterally scaling back federal agencies and erasing existing regulations.

In a opinion article published Wednesday by the Wall Street Journal, the two MAGA businessmen stressed two specific decisions this will prove particularly useful, in their opinion. In 2022, the court held that federal agencies cannot respond to “major issues” with broad economic or social impact without explicit approval from Congress. Later that year, the Supreme Court overturned its own precedent that called for courts to defer to an agency’s interpretation of ambiguous laws.

Both rulings empowered courts to intervene in federal policy, striking down Biden administration rules they say are excessive, including student loan forgiveness and a increase in overtime pay. Now that Musk, Ramaswamy and their allies are in control of the executive branch, they believe the courts will uphold the reversal of thousands more policies, amounting to about $500 billion in budget cuts.

Troubled programs include the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, as well as international aid and money for Planned Parenthood.

Some legal experts say their confidence is misplaced. William Buzbee, professor at Georgetown Law School, told Reuters that the Musk-Ramaswamy interpretation of recent cases is “very confusing” and that, although Trump has free rein to ask agencies to go “easy” on enforcement, neither court ruling restricts the powers of federal agencies as much as Musk and Ramaswamy could wish.

But even partial implementation of their plans could seriously disrupt government services essential to the smooth functioning of society, especially if they end up laying off federal workers en masse or forcing them to retire. Musk admitted as much, suggesting Americans should suffer immediately “tests” in exchange for long-term prosperity.

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